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M3 Grant
The Medium Tank M3 was based on the Medium Tank M2, ordered by the USA. Nicknamed "Lee", or "General Lee", named after General Robert Edward Lee, an American Civil War general, this was the variant used by the USA. The British will use also the tank as M3 Grant, the named after General Ulysses Simpson Grant, also an American Civil War general. The early version was the same carriage like the M2, but the armor was increased from 32mm to 51 mm and an 75 mm M2 Gun was built in the right side of the fuselage. Two .303 M1919A4 Browning machineguns are be placed in the left side of the fuselage and can not be moved from direction. Like the M2, there was also a small turret on the fuselage but bigger and with an 37mm M5 gun with also an .303 M1919A4 Browning machinegun. The turret was bigger then the turret from the Lee because British want the radio inside the turret so the 37mm gunner can operate both gun and the radio. By this, an radioman doesn't need it and the crew numbers go from seven to six. On the turret from the Lee there was a smaller turret. It will be removed from the Grants. Atleast 5.348 Lee's and Grants are be produced between April 1941 and August 1942 by the Rock Island Arsenal, the Detroit Tank Arsenal and the American Locomotive Co in different variants. Later a new main battle tank will be designed on the fuselage wich become the M4 Sherman as successor of the M3 Lee and Grant tanks. The Canadians also built an own main battle tank wich become the Ram tank. When the Sherman enter in service in the armies, the M3 Lee and Grants are be modified for other purposes. The first tank saw action during the Battle of Gazala by the British with the M3 Grant in May 1942. Soon it will be clear the M3 are the most powerfull allied tank on the battlefield on that time, but also a weak and big target. The big body of the tank was a good and excellent target for the Germans. The Germans may had 50mm tanks like the Pzkpfw III, the ''eighty-eight'' will do the killing jobs. Around 50% tanks wich be used during the attack are be destroyed! The M3 was already in North Africa gradually replaced by its successor, the M4 Sherman, and even that was in a 1 on 1 confrontation no match for the then current German tanks. The recent deployment of the M3 in the west was in Italy: in Normandy were already no longer used M3s. When the British received their new M4 Shermans from America, they quickly transferred approximately 1,700 M3s to the war in South East Asia, deploying about 800 M3s to Australian forces and about 900 M3 tanks to Indian forces. British Lees and Grants were used by the British Fourteenth Army from the fall of Rangoon,nperforming admirably until the end of the war. In the Far East, the M3's main task was infantry support. It played a pivotal role during the Battle of Imphal, during which the Imperial Japanese Army's 14th Tank Regiment (consisting of mostly captured British M3 Stuart light tanks and their own Type 95 Ha-Go light tanks) encountered M3 medium tanks for the first time and found itself outgunned and outmatched by the British armor. Despite their lower-than-average off-road performance, the M3s performed well as they traversed the steep hillsides around Imphal. Declared obsolete in April 1944, the General Lee and Grant fought on against Japan until the end of the war. In the end, the M3 in the China Burma India Theater performed the mission its original designers had intended it to do: that of supporting the infantry. The Russians also will have Grants and bestowing it the nickname of "БМ-6 — братская могила на шестерых" that could be translated as "collective grave for six people". M3 Grant "late" The M3 Grant "late" was a later production model. It was the early model but with an 75mm M3 gun, wich it was longer. It was the early model but with an 75mm M3 gun, which was a longer derivative of the M2. The M3 is equipped on American and British vehicles such as the M4 Sherman, the later models of the M3 Lee and Grants and the Churchill (scavenged from General Sherman tanks in the North African theatre). It had a barrel length of 37.5 calibres (3 metres) and a muzzle velocity of 619 m/s with M72 AP shell and 617 m/s with the M61 APC shell. BF1942 2015-04-11 20-52-25-00.png BF1942 2015-04-11 20-52-27-17.png BF1942 2015-04-11 20-52-36-66.png BF1942 2015-04-11 20-52-42-35.png BF1942 2015-04-11 20-52-51-31.png BF1942 2015-04-11 20-43-06-49.png BF1942 2015-04-11 20-43-02-89.png BF1942 2015-04-11 20-43-10-41.png BF1942 2015-04-11 20-43-15-00.png BF1942 2015-04-11 20-43-19-45.png M3 Grant.jpg|M3 Grant Category:British Equipment Category:Medium tanks